NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 27, 1998

Rick Majerus

COACH MAJERUS: Well, I don't know. Probably the difference between Jordon and Chilcutt, something like that. Carolina is really quick. I know that these kids have numbers. I know Jamison's name, too. But he is the quickest big guy I think in the tournament. He's an unbelievable runner of the floor, has tremendous hands, can catch anything around him. Quick off his feet, and he's very, very quick. His best shot is his first look to his left shoulder. And his second best shot is his miss. He is so quick to get the rebound. He is an unbelievable rebounder, very, very quick. Arkansas was quick, too. Arizona is quick and we faced quick teams in our league. We have been compensated for it by rotations, deployment and hopefully we will be able to do that. If it is a quickness contest, we are not going to win this.

COACH MAJERUS: How many teams have we caught off guard? Not too many in our league or in the west. Maybe in this tournament. But at this point in time I can guaranty that Carolina will not look by us. I think they will be ready to play their best game because they are here and they have the expectation to win it. They are the number one seed. That's what that program is all about. What I have to guard against is subliminally in the recesses of our players' minds, I have tried to caution them, that this can't be the tournament of the season because we have arrived here. We want to try to win just this next game. We don't talk about winning the Final Four. We keep talking about what we've done from day one, winning the next game, and this is the next game, and we don't want to have fall-back, I guess, syndrome where we are sitting here saying if you lose, it's okay. And we have had a wonderful year and we haven't been here for 32 years. We want to feel real bad if we lose and we want to feel real good if we win. Obviously, retrospectively, two weeks out everyone will look upon the season as being tremendous, but you can't fall into that trap right now. You can't get baited into that as though this is the culmination of the season just having gotten to play here. I don't think our guys are into that. They believe they can win and want to win and they will really hurt tomorrow night if they lose. That's good. That's what sports are about.

COACH MAJERUS: Doleac is big. I saw him in Long Beach at a little junior high, summer league, Wilson Junior High. He has good hands, which is probably one of the most important things any basketball player can have, but particularly with a big man. He really liked the game, and he didn't play much when I saw him but was real enthusiastic and had a lot of energy. You know what he has? He has that great sense of self for a big guy. He has a good self-esteem. A lot of times big guys, particularly at that age, don't have that. They are awkward in terms of their personal development, stuff like that. And then he caught the ball and he tried real hard. And then he came to my basketball camp. It was the conclusion of the summer, and we have these Early Bird sessions for kids, about 6, 6:15 AM. He made every one of those sessions and it wasn't as though he was trying to ingratiate himself with me or my staff. The third day, I loved his work ethic and I took him out back and offered him a scholarship. At first he thought it was a cool joke. He is a self-made player, a manufactured player. He comes early, stays late, works hard, and he gives you his best effort every night. And Miller was a tremendous passer when I saw him. He has three attributes, three aspects of passing that all great point guards have or all guards have, pass the ball in transition and know when to push up the floor at the appropriate time, and kind of set the table, they can draw and kick it in the half court and feed the post. And he can do those three things passing, and he was able to do those. On his high school team he was maybe the second biggest guy, I recall. But I liked his passing skills and he has tremendous love of the game, enthusiasm for the game. Game means a lot to Andre, stays late, comes early, likes to compete. So those are the things that attracted me to those two guys.

COACH MAJERUS: First of all, you got to get back in transition with him and you can shoot the deep three. Then when you get out there on that, you can't help off the bigs too much, because they will throw that ball up there. Williams got a real good shot fake, and shot fake out the chasm and on the dribble. You got to stay down on him, not try to follow his bad shot, and yet if you try to deny too much, these guys are king of the back door. So you got to be very cautious, and we are going to have to make sure we are aligned and rotating well defensively or we will get stung. Williams is tough. He is a helluva player. You know, you can get enamored with Cota, and Carter makes spectacular plays. Not Cota, but enamored with Jamison. And Cota is so sound and what Williams does is a great job playing off Cota. So it's going to be a difficult assignment for our players.

COACH MAJERUS: I think the college game is in better shape than the professional game and I'm a big fan of proball. I like to go to watch, I like proball. Because we are not predicated on stars, just as you alluded to. We represent the University. We are student athletes, not a bottom-line deal. The NBA right now, and Stearn is very aware of this, very astute. You get these guys coming out early who can't live their own age and are not ready for this. Tracy McGrady, those guys make a deal with the devil coming out early. Yes, you will get a lot of money in your life. But then after money, what else do you have? You don't know how to deal with it? You don't have friends, don't develop a sense of self, compromise a lot of your self-esteem. You see yourself as a basketball player only and not something beyond that. As much as Keith loved the game and was driven, I really wanted for him to be more than just a player, you know. And he is. Whereas like Doleac, he does a lot of good things. That's probably a better way at the end of the day to live than be a -- and to be multifaceted. I think college ball is good. Look at this tournament. Take a look at what they're getting for tickets and the TV interest. All the people that are here. And I think the pro-games are doing everything they can to get the kids to stay in school.

COACH MAJERUS: He really made a lot of stride. I remember when he took his third SAT test and got a 690. I took him out to dinner that night. He and I talked. Andre, I got to tell you something and I know you think I'm a real old guy and I never was a player and I can't relate a lot of things about this to you. But I said if this is the worst thing that happens in your life, you will have a wonderful life. I said, you know, like one out of four Americans died of cancer. One day your mom will be gone. One day something will happen, some bad thing will happen in your life. I know this is the worst right now. But I said, you know, problems create opportunities. And he did a good job of concentrating on his studies. He was in a reading program at school that he got no credit for that was a good reading program. He was over in the rec gyms playing with kids and that was good. It would have been better not to have been propositiond. He is the poster boy for being able to come back. Andre will graduate this spring on a team with two academic all-Americans, nine honor roll, three academic players, and I'm proudest of his academic achievement. He is the nicest kid and has come the furthest, and tries the hardest, really. Honest to God, I believe if we are giving an academic award this year, I would feel the players vote for him unanimously. I say that in my heart of hearts. He has developed. You know, when he came in, he was introverted, shy and now a very vocal point guard. He runs a team and he has just come so far, such a nice kid, a sweet kid. You know what he is? He is a great kid off the court, and on the court, he is truly what I call Stockton-esque. He is a good guy off the court, gracious, affable. On the court he is a killer. He is a great competitor, and he hates to lose, and he loves every drill. He likes to come out and compete and straps it on every drill.

COACH MAJERUS: We have a couple of adjustments. I don't think we will play the triangle. We have gotten here. We are 29-3 and play really good man to man. There is a certain situation in that game that we had to exploit. Within the confines of our man to man, we make adjustments. If we go out and make this five one on ones and we will play Carolina straight up, we will get our ass kicked. We may get it kicked maybe any way, but we try to dictate who will score and how we are going to get beat. You know, when that happens, we will get beat. But it is like getting a web site, it got so popular. Really, it's unbelievable, like some little junk thing we threw in and the kids worked their butt off and they struggled a little bit.

COACH MAJERUS: I don't see you.

COACH MAJERUS: We didn't expect to get here at the start. Maybe the players did. The Stanford coach said they had a flow chart with us winning the thing. I don't know how the guys had that. But number one, I feel really sad that Keith is not here. Keith set the table for us. And he helped with his work ethic and his drive. It was so much fun to coach Keith. He loved every day. He might not admit this. Maybe now he will, but he liked me getting on him and I accommodated him and he accommodated me. It was fun. It was fun to drive him and fun to work with him. Miller and a lot of these guys, Hansen is the same. Hansen doesn't have that ability. Drew will give you every ounce of his blood, guts, heart and soul. Keith's work ethic was infectious and exemplary. I feel bad for -- ironically I have two older brothers, Jeff Johnsen, Britton's older brother is on a mission in Fresno. My heart aches for me and I will see him when the season ends. The second boy is Caton and his older brother Ben was a terrific offender, and he was the best offender on the team and played in the shadow of Keith. But those guys and all the players prior to them that have helped to get us here and establish the program. But especially I feel bad for Keith because it was such a dream for him. But it was nice. You can call and congratulate. The last call I got before I got in the car for the game was from Keith last Saturday and the first call after the game, the second call after the game was Keith's mother, May Van Horn. I wish that Keith could be a part of it. I really do. But he has a great life right now. He is on his way and will be a career star in the NBA. That's good for him.

COACH MAJERUS: Do I stay, too?